Ortsleiter's NSDAP cap, German (c 1933-36)

Title	Ortsleiter's NSDAP cap
Nationality	German
Period	c 1933-36

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This is the cap for the lowest ranking Party bureaucrats, ie the immediate town district or village, piped in a now somewhat faded light blue. The eagle changed around 1936 to a stumpier version of the last pattern, which was introduced in around 1943.

The early hats had no 'scrambled eggs' surrounding the cockade. Indeed, both Adolf Hitler and Goebbels are often shown in early photos wearing such a hat, usually with a brown velvet band and gold rayon piping.

This brown cloth was typical Party fare (the origin of the name 'Brownshirts'), the cheapest available cloth in the 1930s being the surplus colonial material sitting in the tailors' shops, somewhat unloved since the Versailles Treaty of 1918 deprived Germany of all its colonies! The Reds wore the same material in their street battles with the Nazis.

The cap has a tan calf leather sweatband with a paper RZM label sewn into the lining and size 58 is stamped on the crown of the lining.

The general condition is excellent, except for a few dirt marks, a tiny moth hole and a slight thumb/finger (?) abrasion mark on the top.

(NB: The fourth photo down is the wrong colour - a mistake during uploading to the website!)

If you want to comment on this item—re quality, age, etc—please email me.

[Militaria : Headdress : Third Reich : Party]

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